Tag: Feeling Good

In a blink
I think
I miss a link
Or two, or even a few…
At times
I’m behind
My imaginary line
With lots to do
And even time for a brew or two
But then
Again
I find
Hardly the time
To write a rhyme
Or host
A post
With the most
Thought
Which ought
To be included
In a post
With the most
I suppose
A thoughtless post
Is almost
Toast
And jam
And Gammon ham
But no spam
Not around here
Beyond the Sphere
This or any year
Oh, no
But again
Now is now and then was then
Writing this, doing that
Waking from a lovely nap
Up and doing, doing, DOING
Froming and toing
All such fun yet likewise a pain
Doing it whilst in the fast lane

Time to rest
That is best
But in a mo
I’m on the go
And can’t go slow
I’m in the fast lane
If it’s all the same
To –
Things get done
Rushed
Shush!
They must
Such
Isdoingitinthefastlane

A spokeswoman in a Southern Asian State quoted off-camera part of a paragraph of a speech given by a neighbouring country’s premier, “We were in session when it occurred. My internal ministry have had confirmation from both internal and external ministerial attachés that it happened just before 4pm local time.”

A government official in a Central African State concurred. “11am local time was when we started to notice it happening, and it continues to happen right up until the last hour.”

Southern American leaders held an impromptu summit to discuss matters, in Rio de Janeiro, as it happened simultaneously across all countries in the subcontinent. Mexican, US and Canadian officials had their own discussion at noon local time.

Britain and Ireland, Iceland and Greenland began to experience it at 9.30am, again local times. A British Government Spokesman said a full briefing will be given once full facts have been analysed and assessed, and that timescales and blueprints for the briefing are now being drawn up.

Northern Europe and Russia, China and Japan experienced it at 10.30. No word has yet emerged from Russia or China, although they are thought to have experienced it according to local news agencies, and satellite images from both countries show large gatherings of people in various locales. Japan are issuing a statement to the world soon.

India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have yet to announce their experiences, but it is believed it occurred there at 10.45. AT 11am Egypt, Israel and Jordan noticed it happening. There are murmurings coming from other Far East States.

Australia have had reports of it happening in Tasmania, and no word has yet emerged from New Zealand. Tonga have stated they’ve experienced it twice. A Tongan resident danced in the street shouting “It’s Amazing!”

A lollipop lady in Maidstone, Kent, UK, was knocked off her feet when it happened. The 32 year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, was speechless when asked about it by our reporter.

In France, the telephone network became extremely congested at 14.30 as everyone tried to get through to everyone else about it. All lines were then engaged in the UK from 15:00 hours, so everyone had to try later.

And we can confirm that it may be happening again.

This is an unbiased breaking news story and will be updated in due course.

********************

I’ve read a lot of news stories like this lately, that tell us absolutely nothing, so thought I’d have a go at creating my own. Whatever it was that happened, or is, if it’s still happening, may or may not be true, but there is no cause for alarm, as we don’t exactly know what it is, and there’s no point worrying over something that we don’t know about and aren’t aware of the full facts, right? Right!

(Short of time again, but wanted to add something new rather than reposting yet again. This is all I could come up with!)

Another day short for time, so another cheeky repost. Or two, as today is concerned. The prologue was actually the first part, but needed a little extra adding to it, so I’ve posted it here with part one, which is actually part two:

Prologue

The Gods and Goddesses gathered in the Great Hall on Mount Olympus, for their daily view on the affairs of the mortals who live on the Earth beneath them. They always enjoyed looking down on the ordinary folk, in case someone stood out with a special ability.

One day they noticed Gerald. Nothing to write home about looks wise, slightly podgy in fact, with a receding hairline, but he had a special ability. He was a writer, writing a tale about a group of Gods and Goddesses who were so caught up in the affairs of others, they’d forgotten themselves.

Part One

“I don’t believe this!” Athena sat down in frustrated contemplation, swiftly using her mouse to scroll onto the next page. “How dare he!”

Aphrodite, who had just removed her toast from the toaster looked up in disbelief. She loved to see people acting out of character. Even her fellow Gods.

“What is it, Ath?” She asked, spreading copious amounts of butter over the toasted bread.

“This mortal” Athena pointed at her laptop monitor, “telling tales about us, as if all we do all day is lounge about doing nothing.”

“But,” Hera had walked into the kitchen, still trying to dry her hair after her hairdryer had exploded minutes before, “he is right up to a point.”

Athena looked back at her monitor. “When you told me to look this ‘Gerald’ fella up, I thought you were joking, Hez. Obviously you weren’t. He makes out that we all gather together and just watch what’s going on.”

Aphrodite took a bite from her toast, hot butter ran over her chin and down her neck. “Mmm…” she started to speak, and used a serviette to wipe her mouth before continuing. “We don’t do that all of the time, but we do do it”

“Yes, I am aware that we do do it, Aph, but we don’t do it all of the time. In fact, we only do do it when we really have nothing else to do, and usually we do have something else to do, so we don’t do it as often as this Gerald makes out that we do…”

Aphrodite learned long ago that it is wise not to question the wisdom of Athena when she was on one. In fact, it was best not to question Athena’s wisdom at any time. She simply said “He’s only writing what he thinks.”

Hera, in a rage, threw her towel onto the marble floor by the basket, which had a load ready to go into the washing machine. “Get me my pomegranate, and I’ll arrange for someone to zap him with a lightning bolt, for his petulance!” She needed to restore some kind of balance – and her hair would not dry.

“Now there’s no need for that yet, Hez,” Aphrodite held her hands up trying to calm Hera down. Having an irate Goddess of wisdom was enough to deal with without a vengeful Hera making matters worse.

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Hera glared across the cool kitchen at Aphrodite, but her glare softened as she noticed the grease stains on the front of Aphrodite’s pure white chiton from the butter.

Aphrodite glanced down and saw the greasy patches across her bosom. “Oh, bother!” She declared. She tried to dab the grease away with another serviette, making matters worse.

Athena started to chuckle.

“I know what we can do.” She smiled, and Aphrodite and Hera walked over to where Athena was sitting. They both looked at the image of a podgy-looking man with a funny haircut on a profile picture on the screen, while Athena was tapping the man’s chin. “We will pay him a little visit, and then bring him here to the Lap. We’ll show this Gerald exactly what we Gods and Goddesses do. We’ll really give him something to write about…”

***

Other parts can be found in my Storylines menu. Although the ‘Legendary Circles’ story has been completed, I have still yet to move it from the Current Storylines section into the Past Storylines section… and if you feel inclined to read the other parts to the story you will find them all there. I also have links to a few other stories in there, and need to add some others. It all comes down to time, doesn’t it? Ah well. One day ‘twill all be done.

As time is a little short, I have several fine, new and wondrous folk following my blog, and I have posts to post if I want to reach my target of 2,000 posts by New Year’s Eve, I’ve taken the decision to use a shortcut this evening, and repost a little legend I shared back in 2012. Hopefully my long time followers have forgotten this tale: well, a lot of words have flowed forth since then, but apologies if you haven’t – I’ll knock a little off your membership fee the next time it comes up for renewal. I’m generous like that.

In Warrington, in Cheshire, in England, in the year 1367, there lived a seamstress who would darn and stitch and sew every hour of the day. She would sleep only when she really needed to, and she lived to the grand old age of 98. She had a sister, who would nowadays be referred to as a flibbertigibbet, a gossip, a storyteller, and a serving wench in one of the local hostelries.

One day, as the flibbertigibbet was telling a customer somebody else’s tale of woe, a stranger walked into the inn with a strange package. The gentleman, who was well-dressed but strangely dressed at the same time, spoke gibberish. Well, he made strange sounds, incomprehensible to the locals in the inn, although he repeated the words ‘all’ and ‘thing’ very often.

Never one to turn anyone away, the flibbertigibbet gave the stranger a wooden tankard of strong ale and pointed to the man’s package. The man knew that she wanted to see what he was carrying, so he opened the package on the table in front of her. The other customers gathered around the table, in awe, curiosity, and nervousness.

The stranger gestured for those gathered around, including the flibbertigibbet, to stand back, as he unravelled the dirty cloth from around the package. The stench was vile. Some of the customers left the premises immediately, and others sat as far back as they could, still curious as to what he was carrying.

The flibbertigibbet didn’t move, however. Her eyes were transfixed on the webbed paw that was in front of her. The man then produced a sketch of what looked like a horse with a fish’s tail. He pointed to the paw, and then the hoof of the horse on the sketch. He then pointed outside, as if indicating a long way away, and said, once again the word “All-thing”.

Nobody present that day, apart from the stranger, knew what he meant. The flibbertigibbet kept hold of the sketch, which the man gave to her as payment for the ale.

As time went by, the flibbertigibbet married, and moved away from Cheshire… from England in fact. She gave all of her possessions, including the sketch, to her sister, the seamstress.

The flibbertigibbet moved to Iceland with her husband, where, on the very day she arrived, met the stranger from the inn, who was an Icelandic fisherman. He recognised her instantly, and gestured that she and her husband should follow him into a small building by the shore.

Inside, in a case at the back of the room, was the strangest creature. A horse with a fish’s tail, with one leg missing. The stranger pointed to the flibbertigibbet, then to himself, then to the sea outside, and then he mimed himself catching the creature, before pointing to the creature itself.

Modern day seahorses are tiny, hardly monsters by any stretch of the imagination, although they must have been named as such for a reason.

But, the question is this: Did the flibbertigibbet’s Icelandic seahorse actually exist, or was this just another tale that she had made up back in the day? The answer to both parts of this question is no. The flibbertigibbet, her seamstress sister, the ale house, the Icelandic fisherman, and his webbed paw never existed… they were all made up especially for this post.

The Hippocampus however, did exist, as this map of Iceland from 1590 shows:

With webbed claws rather than paws, this seahorse looks nothing like its modern equivalent.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Legends. Which are better?

A fable / story / legend that has been remembered for centuries, passed on for generations, so much so that it is part of everyday life… or a brand new tale, never before heard, yet has all of the features of a legendary tale?

The thing is, with legends, those that survive seem to have more truth in them than their more modern day equivalents, no matter how much of a modern ‘slant’ can be given to the latter day tales.

In the days of real sea monsters, nobody would have batted an eyelid at the mention of a monstrous seahorse. Flibbertigibbets everywhere would have welcomed such tales and sewn them, either by themselves or with the help of someone else, into the consciousness of future generations.

Some tales, however, went by the by. They became the missing link. The reason why so many legends today seem to have more questions than the information they provide.

At the moment, time is in very short supply. Around here, anyway. But, every now and then, I have to make time to do something just a little different. Or not, as the case may be.

I haven’t done anything in watercolour for about ten years now, so decided that the time was right for another go. And, as coincidence would have it, Charlie’s adventure this month over on Doodlewash is ‘Travel Memories’. Nothing coincidental about that, I hear you say, but today’s prompt is palm trees. And, as luck would have it, I’ve painted a pair of palm trees. I may have checked the prompt out briefly beforehand, so those of you who thought there was nothing coincidental in this were actually correct, all things considered, but I did have the urge to do a ‘beach scene’ earlier in the day.

So. Here we have it. A very quick splodge and splattering of colour to keep my hand in with the #WorldWatercolorGroup… I did promise Charlie I would do at least one watercolour this month… I may just do another. Time permitting.